By Jim Naveau
It won’t be found in the playbook of any current offensive coordinator at any level of football – NFL, college or high school.
You won’t ever see it on ESPN’s SportsCenter or on a website on your phone.
Maybe the best evidence it happened is a blurry black and white photo that reportedly shows the play, or at least the beginning of the celebration of its success.
But the “Tower Play,” which happened in 1915, is one of the legends of Marshall football.
According to the legend, Marshall was a huge underdog going into its game against West Virginia that year. Supposedly, West Virginia’s coach, Sol Metzger, told a reporter that there was no way Marshall, which had been shut out in its first three games, could score against his team.
That didn’t sit well with Marshall coach Boyd Chambers. Or, at least, it gave him some motivational material.
His response came with West Virginia leading 36-0 on the way to a 92-6 win.
Somehow, Marshall’s struggling offense got to West Virginia’s 15-yard line and now it was time for a trick play.
One of Marshall’s offensive linemen and a running back ran toward the end zone at a time when there was no rule against linemen being downfield. The lineman lifted the running back to his shoulders, where he stood up and caught a pass for a touchdown.
West Virginia protested that this was against the rules but the officials said there was nothing that said it was illegal.
The “Tower Play” won’t be in use but Marshall (1-1) might need a trick play or two to be competitive against No. 3 Ohio State (2-0) on Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Like Western Michigan and Akron before them, the Thundering Herd is a huge underdog against OSU, with the Buckeyes favored by almost six touchdowns.
Ohio State was No. 2 in the preseason Associated Press poll and Marshall was picked fifth in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference in a preseason poll of the league’s coaches.
That leads to two questions.
First question: Who was ahead of Marshall in the East Division? Answer: Appalachian State, James Madison, Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern. Second question: Since when is Huntington, W. Va., home of Marshall, in a location that would qualify to be referred to as the Sun Belt? Answer: Have you looked at who’s in the Big Ten recently?
Marshall and Ohio State both turned to the transfer portal to acquire several of their starters. But Ohio State’s portal additions have been more productive than those of the Thundering Herd. And so have its returning players.
If you go position by position, Ohio State has the advantage at every one of them.
All signs point to an Ohio State victory. Of course, all signs pointed to a Notre Dame win over Northern Illinois, too. But if things like that happened all the time we wouldn’t remember them nearly as well.
There will be no upset special here.
The prediction: Ohio State 49, Marshall 3.
